Crash- Complexity of Racial Tolerance in Contemporary America

I chose the movie Crash, which was released in 2004. This drama won three Oscars and was the first movie to be entirely shot in Los Angeles, CA. The film takes place within a 36 hour time period in which a group of multi-ethnic characters come in and out of each others lives. The film makers show every gritty detail of the complexities of racial tolerance in contemporary America. It shows that racism still exists today and the struggles that people go through on a daily basis due to racism. Each of the characters in the movie start out with strong racial stereotypes. In a way though, what they see verify's the stereotypes that the believe; Its all one big viscous cycle. The events that unfold during the movie connect all of the different groups and helps them rethink their stereotypes. I think this movie is very appropriate because it shows the melting pot of cultures that exist in parts of California.


Cultural adaptation is the concept that stands out in this movie, more specifically the Anxiety and Uncertainty Model. According to Martin and Nakayama cultural adaptation is the long-term process of adjusting to and finally feeling comfortable in a new environment. How one adapts depends to some extent on the host environment--whether it is welcoming or hostile (Martin and Nakayama 2013.) Being able to communicate with other cultures is very important in the adaption process. Information can be hard to understand when there is anxiety between the intercultural communication. The process of reducing that anxiety is called uncertainty reduction. The two kinds of uncertainty are predictive and explanatory. Predictive uncertainty is the inability to predict what someone will say or do, which explanatory uncertainty is the inability to explain why people behave as they do (Martin and Nakayama 2013.)


When there is a melting pot of cultures in the same demographic area such as in the movie, there is always a chance of being excepted or turned down. In Los Angeles there is no majority or minority population. So the characters in the movie are all rejected by another cultural group in one way or another. And the fact that they choose not to communicate with each other is why racism is so prevalent. If they learned how to use intercultural communication there would be less anxiety about the other cultures. Once they are able to communicate between cultures they will be better able to predict what the other is gong to say and will understand their unique behaviors. As the movie progresses some of the characters slowly start to realize this and let their guard down. I think the scene that depicts this the most is when 'Officer Ryan' who is white saves 'Christine' who is black by pulling her out of her burning car and offers her comfort. Earlier in the movie officer Ryan sexually violated Christine because she was black.


Movie Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=durNwe9pL0E

References

Martin, J.N., Nakayama, T.K.(2013). Intercultural Communication in Contexts (6th ed.) New York, NY: McGraw Hill. 

Lions Gate Entertainment. (2005). Crash. Retrieved From: 

http://www.crashfilm.com/